Larry Alan Smith: Strands (1982) for tenor and harp
Paul Sperry, tenor
Nancy Allen, harp
Poems by Richard Nickson
On November 16, 1982, my New York Debut (chamber music) took place at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. It was “An Evening of Six World Premieres” by yours truly that included Strands. This live recording is from that performance.
This work is in six movements.
Extravangant Music
Eden Song
The Wound
A Summer Sky
Nocturne
A Wish
Extravagant Music
The song I sing shall light her eyes
Till none be lovelier than they,
For love will sing though lover sighs
And would, yet cannot, turn away.
So fair her beauty is and bright,
I shield my eyes as from firelight.
O burning brightness! Lovely fire!
It is for her alone I long,
Whose eyes are lit by love’s desire
To weave their beauty into song.
Then sing, my sighs, and singing make
Extravagant music for her sake.
Eden Song
Deep in a garden’s fruit-tree shade
I found her who at noon had strayed
Under the boughs to lie and look
Down at her image in a brook.
The grass was greener where she lay,
Her eyes were bluer than the day:
The fruit trees bowed in homage to her,
The light winds vied to be her wooer.
Close I crept, and in her ear
Whispered while she leaned to hear
Words as secret as the sighs
Angels breathe in paradise.
Still she leaned, and no way stirred
Till all was spoken, all was heard.
Then with a smile she rose, and she
Groped in the clusters of the apple tree.
The Wound
Love cannot know more bitter sadness
Or feel more hurt or bear more pain
Than the memory of onetime gladness
Over and never to be again.
When happiness is fled, and grieving
Troubles the heart that would forget:
Beyond amends, past all retrieving,
No wound deepens like an old regret.
A Summer Sky
In summer while the skies are blue,
And all the buds are blowing,
How can we tell which way we two
Will or will not be going?
How can we tell in summertime
Where love, that fool, will stray,
Watching the blossoms wreathe and climb
Over the wall away.
How can we tell how you and I
And our love will flout the hours,
Who walk beneath a summer sky
Into a world of flowers.
Nocturne
Dreamer, awaken-
Unclose your eyes
Of love-lit blue and violet.
Dreamer, awake,
Arise!
Love vanishes
From lidded eyes,
As shadows when the moon has set.
Waken, O dreamer,
Rise!
A Wish
Alone in her garden
Awaiting me,
My love sits under
A tulip tree.
Upon her brow
Dusk reposes:
The glowworms blossom
Like little roses.
In her eyes
The quick stars gleam:
A moon awakes
And lights her dream.
O soon may I share
That dream, and be
There with her under
The tulip tree.
(from Staves: A Book of Songs. The Moretus Press, Inc., New York, 1977.)
*****
Larry Alan Smith and Richard Nickson
*****
The complete New York Debut program:
Fancie (1982) for horn and piano
Chansons de Prevert (1978) for tenor and piano – Poems by Jacques Prevert
Polyhymnian Serenade (1980-82) for a septet of winds and strings
Strands (1982) for tenor and harp – Poems by Richard Nickson
Pibroch Fantasy (1977) for violin, cello, and piano
The Scrolls (1982) for tenor, flute, clarinet, and viola – Text by Woody Allen
*****